VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Commercial Vehicles C.O.E CATAGORY ! ! !

O.K. you guys, we've got our own catagory,(so to speak)lets get it started. I found a COE in town today that I didn't know exsisted. It was behind an old house, that was behind an old machine shop, that I had been to several times through the years. The old fella that runs the place has made small parts for me several times, for a old pedal car I had, so old trucks never had came up in our conversations. This time I wanted to take a look at an old 48 F**d Holmes Wrecker he had drug in this week. As I was looking over the old Wrecker, I noticed around the corner of the old house was another old truck facing away from me. It still had a full tarpted load on the back of it, blocking any view of the cab. When I walked around to the front of it, low & behold their sits a '48 GMC 350 series COE, with nice chrome grille,no broken windows,or flat tires ,ign. key still in the switch, 179in. wheelbase. Looks like it just drove in with its load. Black in color, but covered with green mildew. Going by the inspection sticker in the windshield & the license plate on the back it was last on the road in 1971. It was loaded down with textile mill machinery, on the back. Excited as I was, I ran back up the hill to the shop, to find out if I could buy it from him. He begins to tell me the history of the old truck, gradually answering my question with a "NOT FORSALE". He said it had belonged to his dad & was part of the family.I UNDERSTOOD. P.S. I thought I had gathered just about every COE & salvagable COE part within a 50 mile radius. And was was able to purchase a few accessory items off of the old Holmes Wrecker. Spanky Hardy.......Collector Of Fine Old G.M. COE trucks & Antique Holmes Wreckers.

The only hinge that gets oiled is the one that squeeks.
We got our forum..... Lets not forget about the 1 1/2 & 2 con conventional cab guys.

When it comes down to it EVERYTHING from the sedan/delivery & on up to the 2 ton COE was a
" commercial ". So if a guy wants ta talk 'bout his Sedan delivery here we gotta respect him here.

Adv.Des. GmC COE had a shifter set back in the middle of the front seat. Chevy had the shifter mounter on the hump about 1/2 way between the front seat & the dash. Why the big difference ??????????????

MT that is a hard question , Maybe it was because that Gmc would rather have it there and use single seats, while Chevy had bench seats and it was hard to shift thru a bench seat?

Whackey Mackey, I am sure the Spankster will answer this compelling question when he returns.

The Spankster is back. Mothertrucker, Adv. Des. Chevy COE designers wanted their shifter in a more natural position. They also wanted their cab to be classified as a 3 man cab, more rider friendly ,than in the past models. This was strictly an in house decision,don't know why GMC didn't follow suit. Being a owner of both Chevy & GMC COE's, I've noticed that even though the trucks look very much alike, they are different in alot of ways as well.........Spanky Hardy.......Collector Of Fine Old G.M. COE Trucks & Antique Holmes Wreckers.

Hum........someone forgot to tell Diesel Dan the 1951 COE Slideback that because his shifter is right over the tranny tower where it should be and he has bucket seats, not a bench seat. Okay, okay, I forgot to tell ya........Diesel Dan was converted to this setup back in 1961 because that's the way he should have been in the first place! ha ha!

JYD, Sounds like you're satisfied with the way Diesel Dan's set up as is. If you ever decide to go back with a bench seat ,I've got plenty of the Chevy shifter rods out in the shop. Spanky Hardy .......Collector Of Fine Old G.M. COE Trucks.

So MT and JYD was I close or what, Yeah! that is what I meant..... and thanks Spanky ,

Puff, Puff,

and JYD you keep doing alterations to Diesel Dan and someone (you know who) will drum you out of the club!
I expect that the next thing JYD will do is put one of them dreaded offbrand Diehard batterys in Diesel Dan's box!

Hey Spanky! Ya, the shifter is lot more comfortable the way it is, and it sticks up high enough so that I can use the shifter as a arm rest when I'm driving Diesel Dan. The only hard part is wrapping my right foot around behind the downdraft carburetor that is sitting in front of the gas pedal! :cool2: :cool2: :cool2:

JYD, the exhaust manifold is inches from your feet on the COE. Good in the winter, Bad in the summer.

Ya, tell me about it! The floor gets so hot in the summer you can fry eggs! Feels really good in the winter time though. :eek: :eek: :eek:

JYD ,I keep the breakfast burritos warm on the floor of the mighty 261 COE & I wear thick boots in the summer. They are a hot somebitch !!!!!!

Hey Spanky, what model Holmes did you get parts off of? Anything "we" can use...

Did you get the message about the '46 COE w/ Holmes 515 being scraped... :(

Mike Boteler
'56 8400 w/ Holmes 525
'56 9200
'57 10500 Fire Truck

Mike, It was a Holmes 515, complete except for the Holmes towing cradle not being their. It had one once because it still had the under carriage & swivel plate assemblies attached. He said he planned to restore it for his grand son. He couldn't get the tool compartment open, so I showed him how to get in it. It didn't have the electric push button like the 525's, it had a pull cable, but of course it was rusted solid. The tool compartment lid had a access hole like the 525's so I was able to manually flip the trigger to get it open. Of course I wanted to get in the tool compartment just as much, or even more than he did, just to see if it had any Tow Cradle attachments inside. It did have a few of the cross channel attachments but no cross channel. I was able to convince him that since their was no Tow Cradle, he didn't need the Cradle attachments. He then said he wouldn't want the Tow Cradle if it had one on it. He said he had a Holmes 515 before & had removed the Cradle from it. Too bad it wasn't their or I would have had another Tow Cradle to ad to my collection. I was able to get the attachments though. So I wasn't able to get the '48 Jimmy COE, or the complete wrecker, but I didn't leave their empty handed either,so it was a pretty good adventure after all. Spanky Hardy.......Collector Of Fine Old G.M. COE Trucks & Antique Holmes Wreckers.

Oh yea Mike, I did get the message about the old 515 getting crapped. Too bad, I guess we can't exspect to save all of them. That hurts in two ways, (1) it was a old Holmes wrecker,& (2) it was a G.M. COE. Spanky Hardy.......Collector Of Fine Old G.M. COE Trucks & Antique Holmes Wreckers.

Hey MT! Old "Diesel Dan" has a heater in him too. Why? I don't know because with those hot floor boards, not only is the heater not used but it is not needed either. In the winter time I drive "Diesel Dan" with all of the windows down and I'm still warm! And, with the windows down it also helps to "vent" the air from the gas fumes as well since the downdraft carb. is in the cab with me! Phew!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :( :(

Yep, that is just what I thought JYD, Old Diesel Dan sounds like my kind of a truck. The first truck I got paid for driveing ($1.25/hr), that is one My Dad didn't own, and it was a 49 Chevrolet water tanker truck used to water down the road bed for road construction, I drove it three month of summer vacation and it had to be pushed to start and it didn't have a sign of brakes. It didn't need a heater nor a seat belt, my cheeks kept a pretty good bite on the seat real regularly.

Ya, and those trucks didn't need a radio either because you couldn't hear one anyway with all of that noise coming up through the floor boards! :( :( :( :(

O.K. guys, I've got a NOS Carter Model BB1 D Updraft Carburetor, still in the box, fits '39-'40 Chevy COE, that I want to trade for a NOS Carter Model 517, 871, or 2075 Updraft Carburetor. Anybody have one. Spanky Hardy.......Collector Of Fine Old G.M. COE Trucks.

I have a new old stock 871 carb. in the original box, but ya have to buy both of my COE's to get it, or ya gotta have somethin' really cool to trade........you know.....like somethin' that I can't live without! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Come on ! JYD, you're making this thing hard. I don't really need anymore complete COE trucks right now , what do you consider really COOL ! Spanky Hardy........Collector Of Fine Old G.M. COE Trucks.

Ya, Spanky Doodle, but you don't have a slideback do ya? What's really cool? Hum....something really old, really swift, really neat. You know, some kind of collectible.......neon signs, movie posters, vintage clocks....hey whatever. It would still be easier if you bought Diesel Dan though and then you would get the n.o.s. carb. with it!

JYD, Oregon is a little too far away , for transporting a complete truck, but that 871 carb. could fit into a Brownie and be delivered to the East Coast fairly easy. Spanky Hardy ...... Collector Of Fine Old G.M. COE Trucks.

Yep, it could. And something really cool could be sent from your direction too in the same kind of Brownie. Ya! :eek: :eek:

JYD, You've got me looking around the shop, & everywhere else I've got stuff stashed to see if I've got something that might interest you. Right here inside the house, I've got several Danbury Mint models, Old emergency beacon lights, & alot of old Chevy & GMC Truck literature. Like I Said I need to go out & dig through my other stuff to see what I have. I just sold 2 old advertising clocks. One Pepsi Cola, the other Holsum Bread. Hate I sold them now. I've got a Large Antique & Collectable store less than a mile from me, I'll look around in their also. Spanky Hardy.........Collector Of Fine Old G.M. COE Trucks.